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<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title">
<a name="boost_asio.overview.windows.stream_handle"></a><a class="link" href="stream_handle.html" title="Stream-Oriented HANDLEs">Stream-Oriented
        HANDLEs</a>
</h4></div></div></div>
<p>
          Boost.Asio contains classes to allow asynchronous read and write operations
          to be performed on Windows <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">HANDLE</span></code>s,
          such as named pipes.
        </p>
<p>
          For example, to perform asynchronous operations on a named pipe, the following
          object may be created:
        </p>
<pre class="programlisting"><span class="identifier">HANDLE</span> <span class="identifier">handle</span> <span class="special">=</span> <span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">CreateFile</span><span class="special">(...);</span>
<span class="identifier">windows</span><span class="special">::</span><span class="identifier">stream_handle</span> <span class="identifier">pipe</span><span class="special">(</span><span class="identifier">my_io_context</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="identifier">handle</span><span class="special">);</span>
</pre>
<p>
          These are then used as synchronous or asynchronous read and write streams.
          This means the objects can be used with any of the <a class="link" href="../../reference/read.html" title="read">read()</a>,
          <a class="link" href="../../reference/async_read.html" title="async_read">async_read()</a>, <a class="link" href="../../reference/write.html" title="write">write()</a>, <a class="link" href="../../reference/async_write.html" title="async_write">async_write()</a>,
          <a class="link" href="../../reference/read_until.html" title="read_until">read_until()</a> or
          <a class="link" href="../../reference/async_read_until.html" title="async_read_until">async_read_until()</a>
          free functions.
        </p>
<p>
          The kernel object referred to by the <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">HANDLE</span></code>
          must support use with I/O completion ports (which means that named pipes
          are supported, but anonymous pipes and console streams are not).
        </p>
<h6>
<a name="boost_asio.overview.windows.stream_handle.h0"></a>
          <span class="phrase"><a name="boost_asio.overview.windows.stream_handle.see_also"></a></span><a class="link" href="stream_handle.html#boost_asio.overview.windows.stream_handle.see_also">See Also</a>
        </h6>
<p>
          <a class="link" href="../../reference/windows__stream_handle.html" title="windows::stream_handle">windows::stream_handle</a>.
        </p>
<h6>
<a name="boost_asio.overview.windows.stream_handle.h1"></a>
          <span class="phrase"><a name="boost_asio.overview.windows.stream_handle.notes"></a></span><a class="link" href="stream_handle.html#boost_asio.overview.windows.stream_handle.notes">Notes</a>
        </h6>
<p>
          Windows stream <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">HANDLE</span></code>s
          are only available at compile time when targeting Windows and only when
          the I/O completion port backend is used (which is the default). A program
          may test for the macro <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">BOOST_ASIO_HAS_WINDOWS_STREAM_HANDLE</span></code>
          to determine whether they are supported.
        </p>
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